FROM A PAGE / IN THE PRESENT - LIVE FROM LYON

Yes surprised their fans last year when they released this mini-album featuring previously unreleased material. From a Page has four songs, all of which originate in 2010 when the line-up included Oliver Wakeman and Benoit David in addition to the core of Chris Squire, Steve Howe, and Alan White. One of the songs is credited to the band as a whole, while the remaining three are credited to Oliver Wakeman alone.

At the time, these songs were developed for a new album project, but were dropped when that evolved into what would become Fly From Here, and Oliver Wakeman was replaced with a returning Geoff Downes. The song From the Turn of a Card was used by Wakeman for his collaboration with Gordon Giltrap, and the vocals featured here are the identical ones by Benoit David, but with new piano backing recorded by Wakeman. Some musical ideas from The Gift of Love were later used on The Game from the album Heaven & Earth, but the two songs are nonetheless rather different.

The other two tracks, To the Moment and Words on a Page, have not surfaced previously in any shape or form. And these two are also the best tracks here. Overall, From a Page holds about 25 minutes of 'new' Yes music, which is not bad considering how starved we fans are of new Yes material. After all, the band has only released three full-length studio albums in the last 20 years. I for one am happy that these recordings finally have seen the light of day, offering a glimpse into a lost period of Yes history.

Share this YES review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to SouthSideoftheSky
• Report this review (#2435983)
• Buy YES music online with PA partners
• Show all YES MP3/Stream
• Go to YES page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to From a Page / In the Present - Live from Lyon page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for YES related discussions